


Questing For Dummies

by Blazonix



Series: Knights of Konoha [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Arthurian legend - Freeform, But not a true crossover, Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, Self-Insert, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22331641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blazonix/pseuds/Blazonix
Summary: Kiba and Sakura didn't mean to create an order of knights, but now that they did, there's only one thing left to do. Complete epic quests!What follows is the shenanigans of Konoha's Knights of the Round Table and the mess they make of the world around them.
Series: Knights of Konoha [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1239971
Comments: 41
Kudos: 280





	1. Quest to Save their Place of Learning

“Ah, Iruka- _sensei_ ,” his coworker gently teases, “good luck!”

“Thanks,” he says with a tight smile.

The woman marches away while waving a folder over her shoulder, and he sighs while rubbing the bridge of his nose. He withholds the urge to start screaming.

“Don’t you have classes to get to?” He asks through gritted teeth, and the stares he feels digging into his back disappear.

No doubt the rest of the instructors are enjoying his current predicament. Doors shut loudly—pointedly—down the hallway, and he debates the merit of switching out the tea in the breakroom for something spicy.

It’d serve them right for dumping the catastrophic class on him.

Of course, he knows why the other instructors are overjoyed at not being “it.” This class contains Uzumaki Naruto, and his strange group of troublemakers. While he might have his own reservations about the child, the Hokage guaranteed the boy isn’t a threat.

The other children following after the fox child, however…

Even so, more than his faith in the Hokage, he’s a professional, and he isn’t about to let fear stop him from doing his job.

His hand hovers over the door to his new classroom, and his lips quirk into a humorless smile.

It’s too bad Mizuki is in the hospital. The emotional support would have been nice. He’s heard rumors about Uzumaki’s group—mostly exaggerated, he’s sure—but there’s no doubt he’s going to be dealing with a bunch of insane five year old children.

(More so than usual, he means.)

Professional, he reminds himself before opening the door to the classroom.

“I am Umino Iruka, and I will be your instructor starting today,” he smiles to the sea of tiny faces staring back at him.

“It is good to meet you!” A boy with the oddest eyebrows shouts, standing up and slamming his hands down onto the desk.

The boy gets yanked down by a girl whose hair is twisted into buns. The Hyuuga child on the boy’s other side sighs heavily.

“Why does he always have to yell?” The Hyuuga mutters.

“Well, that’s Lee for you,” the girl says.

The rest of the children in the classroom begin making faces. That’s not good. He’s already losing control, and class hasn’t even started. Before he can force the children’s attention back to him, a girl with bright pink hair hisses loudly to the boy next to her.

“Wake up, Kiba, he’s here!”

“I’m awake,” the boy whose face is planted against the desk groans, “who can sleep through _that_ racket?”

“Lack of sleep causes fatigue. Perhaps staying up to cause havoc was not the correct choice,” the boy in the oversized jacket says mercilessly.

A puppy lying in the sleeping boy’s lap begins barking; this sets off a whisker-marked child who begins cackling about “awesome pranks against injustice.” He doesn’t get to utter a word before a dark haired child with fine features begins sneering.

“Stop being a nuisance. The police have more things to worry about than you.”

“You’re that Uzumaki kid!” One of the children from across the room calls out. “My brother said you destroy things!”

“I will fell anyone who tries to hurt Naruto!” A Hyuuga girl cries out, reacting to a threat that was never spoken.

“Bring it back, you crazy heiress,” a boy with the spiky hair says, unconcerned tone at odds with the scolding words.

“Don’t worry Hinata, they’ll have to go through all of us,” the Akimichi child sitting next to him says.

The rest of the classroom takes this as an opening to turn to each other and begin talking. Any semblance of order goes out the metaphorical—and hopefully not the literal—window.

He rubs his nose and tries to count backwards from fifteen. Someone screams about being a rainbow ninja. Uzumaki’s screechy voice stabs into his brain repeatedly. He doesn’t make it to five.

“All of you shut up!” He screams.

Pure, beautiful silence greets his ears, and he takes a deep breath.

Ruefully, he will later reflect that there is no better introduction to the notorious Knights of Konoha. The brats aren’t disobedient so much as they are scatterbrained weirdos.

“It’s nice to meet you, Iruka-sensei,” a blonde-haired girl purrs, staring him down with darkening blue eyes.

From there, the rest of his day goes about as well as he expected.

* * *

“Long day?” His coworker asks, holding up a cup of coffee for him.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” he says hollowly.

Not only is Uzumaki in his class, but his troublemaking group consists of Konoha’s most prominent clan heirs. All who already know the basics of being a ninja, and all who appeared ready to riot at the idea of learning mathematics and writing.

“I didn’t even have any help considering Mizuki had an accident with some chili peppers exploding—”

He stops cold. It’d certainly been strange how that had happened when Mizuki hadn’t even recalled how the peppers had made it into his shopping basket. When the bag of peppers had exploded on him, Mizuki reached for his medkit only to find ground up coffee labeled as burn salve.

Could it be?

“What’s wrong?”

“No, nothing. I’m overthinking it,” he laughs nervously to himself.

Aside from a few outbursts, his first day with them really wasn’t so bad—trying his temper, certainly—but it wasn’t terrible enough to resign. The next day isn’t much worse, and he’s foolishly lulled into a false sense of security.

If this is as bad as this class gets, he’ll have them whipped into shape in no time.

He very quickly learns how arrogant his thinking is.

“Begone foul being, back to the depths where you belong!” Uzumaki screams before launching himself at the now recovered Mizuki.

“To arms!” Kiba howls before following after.

Like a pack of wolves, the rest of the children bearing wooden swords dart towards Mizuki with snarling lips. While the punches Mizuki hits them with it is a touch too extreme, he can’t say he blames him when the Hyuuga go after Mizuki with palms held out.

He is perhaps a bit too gentle himself; Mizuki is knocked out cold while he’s trying to wrestle the children to the ground without anyone getting hurt. He has a hunch that the Aburame is to blame for that one.

“Everybody out but these twelve!” He hollers as the rest of the class watch on in a mixture of shock and excitement. “NOW!” He adds on when no one moves.

“What is going on? Explain!” He roars as the rest of the class hurries to empty the room.

“I am King Arturus! I will continue on the path of shayari! Believe it!” Naruto roars back.

The sheer absurdity of that statement catches him off guard.

“What?” He blinks.

“And so our quest to rid our sacred place of learning from Morgana’s influence continues,” Ino says as if commenting on the weather.

“ _What_?”

“Mizuki-sensei’s a spy,” Sakura says simply.

“For evil,” Chouji informs him solemnly.

He’s speechless, but not for long.

“Detention,” he says, face turning red.

It’s all part of their game, he’s sure of it. Still, Mizuki is not a spy, and no matter what kind of innocent fun these kids are playing at their teacher’s expense, that’s a serious accusation to be flinging around. Never mind actually physically attacking their teacher.

Yet no matter what he says, these kids never stop in their harassment. In fact, they begin ramping up their pranks as Mizuki’s retaliation gets harsher. It gets to absurd levels, and he knows he has a problem on his hand when hospital trips begin happening.

As a last resort, he brings in a T&I specialist to scare them all straight. When the lady gives them a light, yet terrifying interrogation, he does not expect Mizuki to crack like an egg when pointed questions are thrown his way.

He does not expect Mizuki to _actually_ be a spy.

Mizuki attempts to hold the children hostage, but the only thing that happens is him getting stabbed by ten wooden swords at once. His own kunai is at Mizuki’s throat not a moment later; he holds it there without hesitation.

No one touches his children, not even lifelong friends.

“Well, well. This certainly wasn’t what I expected when you asked me to scare misbehaving children,” the T&I specialist says while tying an unconscious Mizuki’s wrists with wire. “A wimp like him collecting information for Orochimaru? I believe you’ve just made Anko’s day.”

There are many things he should be feeling right now. Betrayal, confusion, grief, and yet the one thing that sticks out the most is—

“They were right?” He whispers in disbelief.

“We did it! Quest accomplished!” Naruto shouts, throwing his arms up.

The cheers following that exclamation twist his heart in agony. He knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that this is only the beginning. His days of sheer insanity and chaos have just begun.

“I can’t believe that worked,” Sakura remarks.

“Obviously, you doubt my plans?” Shikamaru scoffs.

“Never,” Chouji says loyally.

“I just don’t understand how you knew Iruka-sensei would call in someone from T&I,” Neji frowns.

“Sir Tristan is amazing!” Lee beams, teeth shining.

“Let’s get something to eat to celebrate!” Tenten exclaims.

“Not ramen,” Sasuke says immediately.

“King Arturus should decide,” Hinata says firmly.

“We can’t, or it’s always going to be ramen,” Ino chides.

“Iruka-sensei, you coming?” Kiba asks, hanging on Shino’s shoulder with a pointy grin.

He really shouldn’t. He needs to go see the Hokage, contact their parents, and revise lesson plans. He’s got a bottle of sake sitting in the back of his kitchen cabinet, coated with dust. He has plenty of work to get started on now that his class is down a teacher.

“Just this once,” he says, unknowingly lying, “I’ll pay if we get ramen.”

“Yay! You’re now my most favorite person in the whole world!” Naruto declares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're looking for big action/adventure or angst, I'm afraid there's nothing here but humor and fluff~


	2. Quest to be Found Worthy of Questing

On his days off from school, it’s routine for him to visit Sakura’s house once all his chores are done for the day. He loves the tiny, vicious little monsters he calls friends, but even he needs a day to just relax.

“You know, I can’t believe Mizuki actually was a spy,” he says, staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.

Akamaru laughs before snuggling into the new pet bed by Sakura’s desk. Taking in the pink cushion with its tiny pillow and sewn-in blanket, he can only marvel at how much Mrs. Haruno adores the ninken puppy.

“Oh, don’t remind me.” Sakura makes a face. “All I wanted to do was cut off Mizuki’s influence early. I didn’t think Naruto would take my ‘I saw him doing something bad’ and go with _that_.”

Ino hadn’t helped either: she’d nudged and prodded the situation with comments along the lines of “Daddy always says that those kinds of behaviors are suspect and likely of treason.” The other kids, Naruto in particular, had latched onto this so-called Yamanaka wisdom as absolute truth.

He wonders if Ino had been just as surprised as Sakura and him about Mizuki, or if she actually had an inkling.

“Well, moving on.” Sakura waves a hand before leaning back against the bed. “Now that we’ve finished the ‘quest,’ we’ll need to come up with a new one before Sasuke goes looking for one. Or Lee.”

“Bet you they’d find something involving missing-nin,” he says with a grin.

“I don’t take losing bets.”

Their biggest troublemaker in this group isn’t Naruto. King Arturus tends to wait for his adviser, Myrddin, before making big decisions after all. Sasuke, on the other hand, is impatient and headstrong with a taste for rebelliousness. Lee, when not assigned a task, searches for good deeds and training opportunities. To say it never ends well is an understatement.

“Should we do another grail quest?” He asks.

“You mean Sage’s Sake Cup.” The corner of Sakura’s lips quirk for a brief moment. “No, I think if we tried one of those, they’d go overboard with it right now.” She sighs.

They grow silent as they rack their brains for some new, stupid idea in their continuing game. He comes up empty. Sakura wears the same blank expression, so he figures she doesn’t have anything either.

When an hour goes by with both of them still trying to think of a quest, he knows one will not be found. Could this be the end? They’ve done this for literally years, but this is the first time neither of them has anything to suggest.

“I think we’ll have to let Sasuke and-or Lee get us arrested,” he says, admitting defeat.

“Let’s just go get something to eat. Maybe we’ll think of something after that,” Sakura groans.

They still have nothing by the time the next Round Table meeting is held. He can only shrug at a grimacing Sakura when King Arturus turns those hopeful blue eyes of his on them.

Sakura puts her staff on the small, round piece of wood serving as their table, and draws herself up with the air of one about to speak words of great importance. All eyes are on her, alert and unwavering as if she was the Hokage, himself.

“Today, Gawain has important information to reveal,” Sakura says quickly before grabbing her staff and stepping away.

Well, crap.

Shooting a glare at the unrepentant Sakura, he slowly approaches the table—it’s really just a flat piece of wood on top of a box—and lays his weapon on it. His mind runs a mile a minute as those trusting eyes land on him.

Akamaru pats him from where the ninken rests on his head, and he relaxes. If nothing else, he can use the emergency backup plan: claim Morgana has laid a spell on him.

“Last night, I had a dream,” he says slowly, as if in pain, “of a figure whose face I couldn’t see. They wore robes and the sun kept me from seeing the colors.”

“Was it the Sage?” King Arturus interrupts with wide eyes, causing Bedwyr to gasp beside him.

He almost says “No” but thinks better of it. A dream of the Sage of Six Paths would make for a good story, wouldn’t it?

“Yes, and he gave me a message to give to all the Knights of the Round Table,” he says, words coming out faster than his brain can filter them. “He said that we have only just begun our work as the true protectors of the village. That though we are strong, we must grow stronger still. We must prove to him that we are more than just lucky!”

Sakura makes a squinty face at him, and he grins at her before finishing grandly,

“The Sage has given us the quest of being found worthy of questing! We must survive the obstacles he gives us over this next week!”

Excited chatter breaks out, and he mentally pats himself on the back. This will give them an entire week to come up with a real quest idea. Sasuke and Lee will be too busy looking over their shoulders to cause havoc.

“What kind of obstacles are we talking about here, Gawain? Fighting monsters? Ousting spies?” Gingalin twirls a kunai around her finger with eyes ablaze.

“He didn’t say, but I’m sure whatever it is will need all our effort,” he says, struggling to keep a straight face; Akamaru making a squeaky noise in his ear doesn’t help.

Sakura is more amused by his improvisation than angry, but considering she threw him in front of the line of kunai, she waved away her right to be upset. He says as much.

“Just shut up and help come up with something,” Sakura says, rolling her eyes.

Predictably, the week consists of the usual tedium: go to school, go home and do chores, meet up at the park to finish homework, play, go to bed. The Knights try to stay alert and vigilant for anything suspicious but tire out quick enough.

Of course, it’s on the second to last day of their supposed week that something actually happens. He’s not there when it begins; he’s standing in front of a furniture store being inspired while Sakura makes notes beside him to iron out the details.

“-and it should be gold,” he says, completely ignorant of the incoming chaos.

“Rejected. But I want a nice finish, so maybe we should get the adults involved in this,” Sakura says, pen scratching against her notebook.

Heads bent over and backs turned to the street, they both miss the silent, flailing ninja flying by behind them. He gives another suggestion, and Sakura makes a note of it. They miss the next ninja soaring past them as well. Akamaru lets out a whine.

Neither of them miss the unmistakable sound of an enraged donkey galloping down the street. He whirls around just in time to see the animal running by, screaming an awfully human-sounding scream.

He’s almost positive he imagines the “ _You’re the jackassess!_ ” trailing behind it on the wind.

Akamaru whimpers in his jacket as he stares at the now empty street in shock. Sakura makes a pained noise next to him.

“Tell me that wasn’t Naruto and Sasuke hanging onto its neck for dear life,” he says blankly.

“I think I saw Tenten hanging onto its tail?” Sakura questions faintly.

As one, they immediately break into a run after the donkey. Somewhere along the way, Shino and Neji join them as adults sprint over the rooftops.

“Report,” he barks, attempting to keep an even pace.

Man, he really needs to work on his stamina. Admittedly, he’s only just begun the academy, but he can already tell he’s going to need to improve rapidly. At least he fares better than Sakura, who is lagging behind.

“Lancelot challenged King Arturus to a duel,” Kay begins.

“And then this creature came out of nowhere, said it had grievances, and kidnapped them,” Lionel finishes.

“It said?” He nearly trips trying to look at Neji.

“It must be a summon then,” Sakura says, panting and out of breath.

“Gingalin managed to grab on before they got away.” Lionel frowns, Byakugan activated. “Over there!”

The donkey is already surrounded by adult ninja, one of which holds his hands up in a pacifying manner. He can’t hear what they’re saying, but judging from the way the donkey stomps, it’s not going well.

King Arturus, now sitting on the donkey’s back, yells at the ninja with one fist waving angrily while Lancelot and Gingalin stand beside them, giving everyone the stink-eye.

Gaheris lets out an angry, high-pitched bark. He pats his partner still tucked away in his jacket.

“Myrddin, I think this is all you,” he says to the wheezing girl beside him.

“We shall stay here,” Kay says, taking a step backwards.

“Sounds like a plan.” Lionel crosses his arms.

“Thanks a bunch,” Myrddin says dryly, still doubled over.

Fixing her hair, Myrddin holds her staff up, and walks out into the fray with her back straight and an angry glare in place. He keeps a grip on the kunai in his jacket pocket even as he hears Kay’s bugs moving around.

Kay probably has a bug ready to drain the chakra of everyone here. Such a scary five year old.

Whatever King Arturus says keeps the donkey from bolting or kicking as Myrddin approaches. She listens to what it has to say before turning to the adult ninja trying to calm it down. Myrddin strokes her non-existent beard in thought once everything is said.

“Alright, you idiots,” Myrddin says loudly for all to hear, “have either of you even _talked_ about what’s bothering you first?”

The silence that follows is a good enough answer to that question.

“Mr. Ass, please tell the man your issue,” Myrddin says, motioning to the donkey with her staff.

“My _issue_ is that I am a war summon! I battle, I fight! But what have I been summoned for these past years? To plow fields like a common low-born!” The donkey stomps a hoof.

“That’s part of infiltration,” the donkey’s summoner, he presumes, says helplessly.

“Infiltration! Do I look like a stealth summon to you? No matter how many times I showed I was upset, you never listened to me! So I heard there was a king running around, and I knew you’d listen to _him_.” The donkey is utterly serious.

His eyes, along with everyone else’s, move towards the small child sitting on the donkey’s back. King Arturus attempts to glare at them but only manages to pout. Myrddin’s face falters for a brief moment.

Clearly, he thinks, this ass is a dumb one.

“So, here we have a summon that is aggrieved because of the misuse of its abilities,” Myrddin coughs, trying to get back into character. “Mr. Ninja, what are your reasons for not taking him into battle?”

“Because there’s no battle to fight right now!” The summoner cries. “Konoha needs us in this way. It’s our duty to maintain the peace here. Isn’t that enough?”

“You signed the agreement between the summon and yourself, not the summon and Konoha,” Myrddin gently reminds him before looking at the donkey. “That said, if you were so upset, why didn’t you just refuse to be summoned? Or go back?”

“I,” here the donkey’s eyes shift, “I would miss Tohaku very much.”

“Retsu,” the summoner sniffles.

To Myrddin’s horror, what follows from there is a teary mess between man and donkey. Stuck in the middle, she has no choice but to give guidelines for the two to follow.

Slowly, the other Knights stop by to watch the spectacle or, in Nimue’s case, to offer suggestions—“Stop helping,” Myrddin hisses under her breath—and they end up making a great audience that “Ooh”s and “Aw”s at all the right moments.

It’s like watching a therapy talk show.

By the end of it all, the only thing any of them are given are thanks and discount coupons to a restaurant they don’t go to.

“Do you think the Sage would approve of how we solved this one?” Lancelot demands before the summon leaves.

“Oh, he’s very into peaceful solutions,” Retsu nods knowingly before looking at King Arturus. “You’re definitely a worthy king! Might want to try to do something about that height though.”

The donkey poofs out of existence leaving behind a bunch of sparkly-eyed brats that have found enlightenment. He pats a groaning Myrddin on the shoulder before handing over Gaheris as a cuddle toy.

“Quest accomplished?” He asks once Sakura has dropped out of the Myrddin persona entirely.

“What a stupid ass with his stupid ass summoner,” she says, rubbing her face against Akamaru’s fur as if to forget the whole thing entirely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I heard you needed something funny and cute.


	3. Quest for the Round Table

Now that Naruto knows that summons exist—Sakura does what she can for Naruto’s education, but she’s not a miracle worker—there is only one way to prevent him from breaking into the Hokage’s office to demand one of his own.

“King Arturus,” Myrddin says with as much authority that can be had with her tiny self, “only the most noble of summons can be given to the One True King. And only from a quest fraught with peril, which can only be obtained after many trials, can the noble summons be found.”

Naruto, whose vocabulary isn’t quite up to Sakura’s, can only stare blankly as he attempts to work through Myrddin’s words. He fails of course, but bless his little blond head for trying anyway.

“You must wait until the Sage grants you the quest,” he says to help him out.

“Aw, okay.” King Arturus kicks the ground with a pout.

And that’s that. He expected more of a fuss from their resident loudmouth, but he supposes the responsibility of kingship has given the kid a new view on the world. Years of learning to give and take instead of just take.

Yeah, right. Like he’s supposed to believe that. Sakura may be in denial, but he isn’t.

“You know, I think they’ve all forgotten that this is just a game,” he tells Akamaru. The puppy makes an inquiring whine. “No, really. Naruto probably really thinks the Sage will personally give him a summon sometime in the future.”

Which might actually happen considering the world they’re living in. He’s fuzzy on the details, but he’s positive Naruto met the Sage at some point originally. Unless the Sage corrects them, he can already foresee meeting him will cause everyone to go even deeper into this rabbit hole.

And considering he’s the one who started this whole thing to begin with—

“You know what? Let’s forget we ever had this conversation,” he says. “This is obviously a game that will fade with time.”

Akamaru’s squints at him in clear disbelief.

For their next quest, he’s turned what should be a simple purchase into an epic hunt. It’s going to end in an unforgettable battle with lasting consequences to their game. He can’t wait.

To get things rolling, he needs a villain. He asks Ma for help in tracking down Uchiha Shisui, and the older boy needs no convincing despite having better things to do as an actual ninja.

“Oh man, I’m going to need a cape. All good villains need capes,” Shisui says with delight.

“Maybe get some face paint?” He suggests. “You’re trying to look like you’re under mind control.”

He has a backup plan in case an emergency or a mission comes up, but everything goes smoothly. At their next meeting—which is just a standard meeting at the park but with their makeshift table—their next quest kicks in.

Literally.

There’s a sharp crack, and Shisui, now clad in a shiny, black cape and glowing blue face paint, moves his foot away from the wood that once served as their tabletop.

“Bwahaha!” Shisui laughs loudly. “Your roundish table is no more!”

Gasps mingle with sharp inhales, and wooden swords are drawn. He barely keeps himself from cracking up at the sheer amount of outrage on everyone’s faces.

“Who dares?” King Arturus demands, sword waving wildly.

“There is nowhere Morgana’s power cannot reach!” Shisui flairs his cape dramatically before flickering away.

It takes them all a moment to realize that Shisui is already gone; he’s so fast that it’s like teleportation. 

“I’ll kill him,” Lancelot immediately says, scowl ruined by chubby cheeks.

“Wait a minute, didn’t you see the mark on his forehead?” Myrddin speaks up. “That’s the work of Morgana! Shisui must be under her control.”

“We must rescue him!” Brunor exclaims.

“But what about the Round Table?” Percival asks.

“Yeah, what about the table?” Tristan gives Myrddin and him a look.

Shikamaru is the only one who ever calls them out on knowing the plot. It would be irritating if he didn’t know Shikamaru actually enjoys the stupid things Sakura and he come up with.

Akamaru makes a questioning bark, and Myrddin clears her throat.

“Yes, we’ll need to rid Shisui of Morgana’s control, but we’ll have to deal with the table too. I suggest moving in pairs,” Myrddin says. “With myself and Nimue staying to create a counter-seal.”

“Give us a few days, and there’s nothing we can’t do,” Nimue winks.

“Morgana likely has ritual sites all over Konoha.” By that, he means Shisui has placed boxes with “Do Not Touch” everywhere while informing people that it’s part of their game. “We might come across something about the Round Table while looking for them,” he says.

King Arturus scratches the back of his head while he thinks with squinty eyes. There is, admittedly, not much to think about since they’ve told him what to do, but there are appearances one has to maintain.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” King Arturus nods. “Grab your partner and do that!”

“And so begins the quest for the Round Table!” Myrddin proclaims, calling an end to the meeting.

Kay is already hovering over his shoulder. Percival trails behind the grumbling Tristan while an exasperated Gingalin is chasing after the excitable Brunor.

“I’ll take the moron,” Lancelot says but reconsiders upon seeing the darkening face of Bedwyr, “by which I mean Lionel.”

“Cute,” Lionel sneers.

When the others storm off, Sakura looks at him with a frown. He nods. He saw it too. Shisui drew an eye resembling the Rinnegan in the middle of his forehead. Hopefully it’s just a coincidence and nothing more.

“Come on Kay, Gaheris,” he says to both his partners. “Since my instincts are telling me exactly where a ritual site is, we’ve got time for a snack.”

He’s feeling like ice cream. Maybe the one next to the comic book stand.

“Are detours your specialty?” Kay asks dryly, far too used to this.

“It’s mental preparation!” He shoots back mockingly.

Akamaru makes an agreeing sound, and they amble away at a relaxing pace. He only knows the location of one of the boxes—there’s ten of them, and Shisui was instructed to place them in locations they can find—but he’s going to give it a day or two before going after it.

It’s more fun to see the others stumble upon these things after all.

“Tristan found a ritual site and there was something at it!” Percival says the next day. 

Percival beams at them while carrying one of the boxes Shisui planted. Black ink marks out the blue eyes painted on the box as if showing the destruction of the evil seals.

“What made you—sorry, what made _Morgana_ put it in a pond?” Tristan looks at him then Myrddin.

There’s a lot of irritation in those dull eyes. He shrugs apologetically. He sort of figured Shisui would do something like that, but time crunches are a thing.

“Because Morgana is evil,” Myrddin answers flatly before motioning to Percival. “Let’s see what powers her hold over Shisui.”

Myrddin, Percival, and Tristan are the ones who get to actually open the box; the rest of them have to fight each other to get a peek. King Arturus doesn’t help with his constant wriggling and shouting of “I’m king, so I get to see first!”

It’s a shame Gaheris can’t speak yet, or else the ninken could sit on his head and tell him what’s happening.

“It’s a piece of wood,” Tristan announces dryly.

There’s a pause in the slapping and shoving in the huddle around the box.

“It’s got carvings on it!” Percival says next, reigniting the frenzy.

Myrddin yells at them to quit it before holding up the piece of wood in question. It’s not very impressive, and he doubts any of them can tell what it goes to.

“Clearly this is part of a greater whole. We need all the pieces from the ritual sites,” Myrddin says. “Nimue and I will cleanse these of Morgana’s influence as you find the rest.”

“I made protection seals to protect you from any influences at the ritual sites,” Nimue says, handing out handmade necklaces of flowers drawn on cardboard medallions.

Kay doesn’t actually care about finding a box, so he grabs the one he knows about and lets the others find the rest. It takes two weeks to find seven more. He’s very glad they ban the Hyuuga from using their Byakugan or the quest would have finished much sooner.

“It’s a table,” Lionel says as they place the pieces beside each other on the ground.

“There’s even a tablecloth,” Bedwyr says, admiring the dark blue cloth.

“But the most important part is missing,” Tristan notes.

The tabletop is nowhere to be found.

“Morgana must have hidden it as we found the others,” Myrddin frowns. “Nimue, I will need your help to scry its location!”

“I feel like an underpaid, underappreciated assistant,” Nimue says dryly.

Naturally, only Shisui knows where the tenth box is. Timing it so that Shisui can play knights with them means that Myrddin and Nimue need another week and a half before they can suddenly claim to know where the tabletop is. 

In the meantime, the rest of the knights tear up half of Konoha in a pointless search. Shisui hid it well: not even the Byakugan helps them figure out its location.

“We’ve done it!” Myrddin cries. “We found it. It’s on top of a mountain!”

“But since we put this much effort into it already, let’s drag it here to us instead,” Nimue smirks.

On cue, Shisui flickers into the center of their meeting, cape flying out behind him dramatically. Under his arm is the last box: its painted blue eyes glitter under the sunlight. Streaks of red and purple make it appear more malicious than the others.

(Shisui, bored and fully able to buy art supplies, decided to be creative with the box that’s been sitting in his room for close to a month.)

“You think you can combat the power of Morgana? Fools!” Shisui spits, twirling a wooden staff in his hand.

“Get him!” King Arturus orders.

If Shisui is put out by the tiny children charging him with wooden swords and murderous intent, he doesn’t show it. In fact, the longer the fight goes on—at some point Shisui actually has to speed up to keep from being overwhelmed—the more livelier the older boy seems to get.

As this is a game and not a true sparring session, when their energy begins waning, Shisui allows himself to get hit. Falling to the ground and clutching his shoulder, Shisui admits defeat. His acting could use some work though.

“Argh, is this the end? How could I,” Shisui drags this out with a wail, “be beaten by such dastards?”

“The knights held you off while Myrddin and I had seals in place to weaken you over time,” Nimue says, pulling out a hand wipe. “Now stay still.”

Shisui wails and writhes as Nimue wipes the face paint off. 

Myrddin catches his attention and rolls her eyes at the scene before her. He bites his lip to keep from laughing.

With that, Morgana’s control over Shisui is broken. Blacking out the eyes on the box Shisui brought, they get to assembling the table once Myrddin and Nimue cleanse the round top.

“Why am I the one doing this?” Shisui mutters, tightening in a screw. “I’m the victim!”

“Because it’s still your fault,” Lancelot says coldly.

Their new table is foldable, light, easy to carry, and, best of all, an actual table. Percival, being the one to find the initial piece, will be the one setting it up for every meeting.

He’s relieved to see the table in Chouji’s dependable hands since it's custom made Inuzuka furniture.

The original plan between Sakura and him was to beg their parents to go halves on the cheapest, smallest table available. Carelessly mentioning said plan to a cousin turned into his entire clan deciding that he could do better; they then proceeded to _build_ him one.

He practically had to beg them not to go overboard.

They’re amazing, his family. Even if the instructions they made are so hard to understand that it makes Shisui swear under his breath.

He high fives Sakura when no one is looking.

“Mission accomplished,” they whisper to each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if it gets too fluffy for you.


End file.
